


Hours, Eons Or Eternity

by fishfingersandjellybabies



Category: Batman - All Media Types, Superman - All Media Types
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-11
Updated: 2018-01-11
Packaged: 2019-03-03 10:12:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,722
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13339068
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fishfingersandjellybabies/pseuds/fishfingersandjellybabies
Summary: “Nothing will happen to those you love, Clark. On my life.”





	Hours, Eons Or Eternity

**Author's Note:**

> And of course, more garbage endings because I’m just terrible. I’m sorry. :( This also accidentally gained a bit of a subplot about Jason and Bruce, and a little meta on Clark and Bruce? How did that happen? This was supposed to be about Jon, I literally only noticed while editing. Whoopsie.

It was the middle of a gala, a kind of important one, when he saw the red cape shining in the moonlight.  
  
And that was all he warning he got before a flash of that same red flew through the ballroom, dragging Bruce Wayne outside.  
  
“Lois is in trouble.” Clark said mournfully. “ _Big_ trouble.”  
  
“...Give me five minutes.” Bruce hummed, turning back towards the building. “I’ll just excuse myself and then help you find her-”  
  
“No, no. No.” Bruce looked back, and Clark’s face was twisted in pain. “You misunderstand. I don’t want to put you in danger to help me save Lois. Not at all.”  
  
Bruce waited. He had an idea but...it hurt his heart too much to think about.  
  
Clark sighed, and leaned back against the balcony railing, running his hands down his face.  
  
“It’s big. This is big, and Lois is in _so much danger_.“ Clark reiterated. “And I should be able to handle it. If all goes how I _hope_ , we’ll be back by tomorrow night. But...”  
  
Another stop. Clark swallowed a lump in his throat.  
  
“But there’s a chance we don’t.” Clark whispered. “There’s a chance Lois is already dead. There’s a chance their firepower will be too much, even for me.”  
  
“...Clark...”  
  
“Just promise me you’ll keep him safe, however you can.” Clark begged, looking Bruce dead in the eye. “Promise, whatever happens to me or Lois tonight - Jon stays safe.”  
  
“Of course.” Bruce nodded seriously, almost eagerly. “Clark, you don’t even have to ask, I’d have done it anyway.”  
  
Clark tried to smile, but it was so heartbroken.  
  
“This threat - do they know about him?” Bruce asked. “Bring him to the cave, we can put it on lockdown-”  
  
“No, no one knows he exists. I just...” A sad laugh. “Just. For once in my life I don’t think I’m going to make it. That I won’t save Lois either. And I can’t fail Jon, Bruce. I _can’t_.”  
  
“Talking from experience,” Bruce quipped, the image of his parents falling lifeless to the ground faint in his mind. “He won’t ever think you did. I promise.”  
  
Clark attempted another smile. It didn’t work.  
  
“There’s no threat against Jon,” Clark repeated. “But I dropped him off at the manor already anyway. Just in...just in case. So he won’t be alone when he gets the news.” And this time, Clark’s smile was genuine. “I put him there so _you_ could be there for him. But I guess I’m pretty lucky his best friend is your son, huh?”  
  
Bruce grinned with pride.  
  
“Damian was there by the way. Wished me luck. I was amazed; that kid has grown so much.” Clark rambled somewhat breathlessly. “...Jason was there too. I saw him unholster his gun before I left. Tell him thanks for me.”  
  
“You can, when you get back.” Bruce countered, a little harsh. “But...I will. I’ll keep Jon with me as long as you need me to.”  
  
“Even if it’s for the rest of his life?” Clark asked, almost in jest, but the pain on his face was too real.  
  
Bruce merely reiterated: “As long as you need me to.”  
  
“...Thank you.” Clark murmured after a moment, slowly floating into the air. “Thank you so, _so_ much, Bruce.”  
  
And he started into the sky, but stopped just a few feet away, and spun back around.  
  
“Conner...!”  
  
“Tim and I will take care of him too.” Bruce hummed. “And Kara. Nothing will happen to those you love, Clark. On my life.”  
  
Clark waited a moment, looking guilty and sad and _scared_ , but eventually nodded.  
  
And he took off.  
  
~~  
  
Bruce walked into a silent house. To anyone else, they’d think it was empty.  
  
But he knew better.  
  
He immediately walked up the stairs, heading towards his youngest’s room. And sure enough, when he opened the door, he heard the unsheathing of knives, and a nervous whimper.  
  
Damian stood protectively in front of Jon, face fierce and determined. Jon stood behind him, a hand on his shoulder. Scared, but not so much that he wouldn’t back Damian up immediately. Wouldn’t lay down his own life for his friend, completely unasked.  
  
It took Bruce a second, but he realized - the whimper Jon made was because _he_ walked in the door. Not Clark. Not Lois. It wasn’t a nervous whimper at all. It was a quiet cry of _disappointment_.  
  
“Father,” Damian started, even as Bruce glanced across the room. Found Jason lounging pseudo-lazily along the window seat, gun out and ready, just like Clark said. “Superman was here, he said-”  
  
“I know. I saw him.” Bruce confirmed, looking back at his youngest. Damian had relaxed now, trusting his father completely, as he always did. Jon, in turn, trusted Damian’s judgment, and let his shoulders droop as well. “Everything will be okay, Jon.”  
  
“You don’t know that.” Jon accused, ducking slightly behind Damian. “...I’ve never seen my dad look so scared, Batman.”  
  
“...I know.” And lying to his own children was easy. Not good, terrible really, but easy. But someone else’s child? His best friend’s child? “...Me neither.”  
  
“What am I going to do?” Jon whispered, even as Damian shifted away to look at him, and left him exposed to Bruce. He looked first at his friend, then at Batman. “What am I going to do if they don’t come back?”  
  
“Then you’ll stay with me.” Bruce answered immediately, kneeling down in front of the boys. “You’ll stay with Damian and I, and join our family. Officially, unofficially, whatever you feel is best.”  
  
Jon sniffed and glanced at Damian again. Damian gave him a small smile and nodded in confirmation as he put his daggers away. Jon’s lip quivered in raw emotion.  
  
“I mean, you’re not even my brother, but I can tell you you’re a better brother than Drake.” Damian offered. Jason snorted. “So you won’t hear much of a complaint from me.”  
  
Jon tried to smile, but much like his father, was too heartbroken to let it come out right. Damian put a comforting hand on his shoulder, and it seemed to break the dam. Tears came rolling down Jon’s cheeks, even as he collapsed into Damian’s chest. Damian didn’t say anything. Just held his friend and looked up to his father.  
  
Bruce just nodded to him, proud of his son’s ability to be compassionate when he needed to be, while remembering a time when that wasn’t quite the case.  
  
“I assume you’ll want him to stay in here?” Bruce asked. Damian just scoffed and rolled his eyes. Bruce chuckled and gently patted Jon’s shoulder. “Then Jason and I will go get some extra blankets. Be right back.”  
  
He motioned to Jason, who hesitated just to glance out the window one more time, before he stood to follow.  
  
They stayed silent as they gathered the supplies. There wasn’t much to say after all. Everything was pretty self-explanatory, and they were both in agreement about Jon’s potential fate, absolutely. If there was one thing Bruce and Jason still had in common after all these tumultuous years, it was that nothing was more important to them than a child’s safety.

The only words spoken were from Jason, as they made their way back to the room, arms stacked high with heavy, fluffy blankets.

“He’s cuter than the last little brother I got.”

Bruce could only smirk in amusement.  
  
When they returned, they found Damian tucking Jon into his own bed, Titus and Alfred already preparing to curl around their emotional guest.  
  
“Enough already, Kent.” Damian was saying. Trying to be his same haughty self, but clearly failing in the presence of one of his dearest friends. “It’ll be okay. I won’t let _anything_ happen to you. Not _ever_. Now stop _blubbering_ and go to sleep.”  
  
Bruce smiled warmly as he placed the blankets on the end of the bed, then moved forward to scoop his son into his arms. Wrangled him into sitting on his lap as he sat on the edge of Jon’s bed next to the pillows, leaning against the wall behind them.  
  
“Same goes for you, Damian.” Bruce said, even as Damian curled against his chest in equal parts resignation and comfort. He looked down at Jon then, echoing Damian’s sentiment. “We’re right here. And we’re not going anywhere. Promise.”  
  
Jon sniffed, and when Bruce opened his arm, he collapsed into Bruce’s waiting embrace without any other invitation. Jason silently picked up one of the blankets and draped it around Bruce’s shoulders. Took another and flopped it across Damian. Then a third over Jon.  
  
“Hope you weren’t expecting to move tonight, old man.” Jason hummed, grabbing another comforter for himself and retaking his perch at the window, cocooning himself.  
  
“Of course not.” Bruce whispered, holding Damian tight in one arm, and gently rubbing Jon’s shoulder with the other hand. Staring tenderly at Jason, who was looking back at him with a little confusion. “Go to sleep, boys. You’re safe here with me.”

And there was a rush of paternal emotion – love? Pain? Affection? Hurt? – through his veins as Jason looked sheepishly away. As Bruce took in the moment, and the scene around him. Damian and Jon in his arms. Jason nearby. Dick, Tim and Cassandra soon returning from that gala he escaped from. Even those silly pets whom he, for some reason, let run his house.

Christ, he was lucky. Wasn’t always, obviously, but was now. And now was what mattered.

And even luckier – he had the trust of the goddamn Superman with the thing the god held most precious. Not everyone could say that. No one could say that, actually, besides Lois Lane and Diana Prince.

“…I’ll protect you.” He found himself whispering, kissing first Jon’s head, then Damian’s, and looking almost desperately over at Jason. Jason glanced up through his lashes. His eyes looked tired. “I promise.”

“Thank you.” Jon whispered, clinging to Bruce so hard it almost hurt. This is probably how he hugged Clark. “Thank you so much, Mr. Wayne.”

“No need to thank me, son.” Bruce returned, even as he heard his three remaining children opening the front door, with Conner Kent in tow as well, it sounded like. “I’m only doing what your father would for me.”

_Protect what I love most. Protect who I love most. For as long as he needed to._


End file.
